Newton County prosecutor to resign

Newton County Prosecutor Scott Watson says he plans to resign next month.

Todd G. Higdon

At mid-afternoon Wednesday, Newton County Prosecutor Scott Watson announced he plans to resign next month.

In a letter to the citizens of Newton County, Watson said, “It has been an honor and privilege. … I will be forever thankful for you. I hope my staff and I have been good public servants.”

Watson will have served as the county’s prosecutor for 14 years.

Asked why he was resigning, Watson said, “It is not a reflection of wanting to leave one thing, but it is a desire to go to the new thing. The fact is that I have had a great experience as prosecutor. I get to go to work every day and work with my best friends.”

Watson will be working in the private sector but has not said where.

“I have been doing this a very long time and I am at a time in my life, an age in my life, that if I was ever going to make a transition, now is the time to do so,” he said. “I have had a wonderful opportunity come about and I just decided to take it."

His resignation takes effect Jan. 11. Watson notified the Newton County Republican Committee Chairman Nick Myers of his decision, and the committee will send its recommendation for a replacement to serve until the next general election. Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt Myers did not return a phone message Thursday morning.

Watson’s term was set to expire Dec. 31, 2010.

During his term, he has tried many cases. And some of those cases stick in his mind.

“I will be honest with you and tell you when I considered whether or not to take this offer, one of the things that happened to me was that I started having flashbacks of certain people who would come into my office at very stressful and difficult times in their life and they were always very kind to me and very understanding,” he said. “We developed good relationships. Those relationships endured to this day even though the cases have long since passed.”

One of those relationships has been with the family of Kendace “Sissy” DeCarlo, who was murdered in her home July 3, 2001.

Watson and his staff worked on the case for five years, eventually obtaining guilty verdicts for two Tulsa gang members — Brian McDaniel and Donald Overton. The case was one of the longest in Newton County history.

One thing Watson will still be involved with is Choppers For Children. For the last couple of years, C4C has held a bike and music rally (two years in Neosho and one year at a location near Joplin), where the proceeds went to the Children’s Miracle Network. To date, the rally has donated $158,947.

“I will absolutely be involved with it,” Watson added.

Asked what he will miss, Watson said his friends.

“The best thing about my job was I got to go to work with my best friends and I am going to miss that.”